The Portland daily press., 1887-06-25
PALACES THAT FLOAT.
the Order and Appointments OF the
Modern Ocean Steamer.
boston Globe !

.
the refinements and conveniences to b,
found ON board the ocean steamers of today
They fail to grasp the full extent Of the ad
vancement which has taken place within tn,
last half century, and they are apt to over
look the intricacies Of the human mechanism
which has to be constantly but quietly KEEP
In motion for the attainment Of order, regu
larity and discipline. They possess no in
telligent conception Of the vastness and
variety Of the provisioning necessary for tn,
| proper maintenance of the crews carried il
our modern floating hotels; nor have they
the slightest ideasof the quantities Of fue
and ships stores generally absorbed by these
Unsuitable leviathans. AS it is right fol
every one at times to pause and consider
the giant strides Of progress in all directions
one Of the main objects of this sketch is Il
supply some of these deficiencies of popular
knowledge. But before detailing the inter.
nal economy Of our large ocean vessels lei
me institute comparison between the pic.
neer vessels Of one Of our lines and later adj.
ditions to the Atlantic fleet, which will al
once disclose the remarkable progress Of
steam navigation hpon the Atlantic The
leaving Liverpool on her outward voyage,
She burned forty-four tons per day, whilst
her steam power was nine pounds and her
speed a little over eight knots per hour.
Gradually and steadily the ocean steamers
increased in all these particulars until the
elimination was reached in vessel built in
1859: She has averaged speed of Is knots
In nine consecutive VOYAGES between Queens
town and New York, which is equal TO near
" ~ statue miles per hour, or somewhat
greater than the average speed Of the ordi-
nary tram service on any railway in the
world. Her engines indicate 14.0OO horse
power, and are supplied with steam from a
double-ended boilers, each with 8 furnaces.
or a total OF Y furnaces. The total consum-
ptlon OF coal Is 800 tons per day, or II tons
per hour, or 466 pounds per minute; and IL
the whole Of the fires were raked together
and formed into one large fire there would be
~ tons OF coal, or mass 20 feet long, 20 feet
broad, and rather more than feet high
nercely burning. Beslder the coal, $50 gal
Ions OF oil are used daily for journals. hear
ings, etc. In the engine room are the dyna-
mos and driving engines used for lighting the
snip, which are looked after by the engine
room staff. Her crew is made up as follows /:
Inc captain, g officers, surgeon and purser,
10 seamen, carpenter and joiner, boatswain
and mate, masters at arms, IL engineers,
liz fireman and trimmers, Y stewards,
stewardesSes, "a cooks, bakers and assist
ants, in all, 2S7 hands.
Before the commencement Of voyage the
crew have to 'sign articles; at the time the
officers and sailors are examined by the ships
surgeon for color blindness, and every OIL
Ger Joining the service Is examined by an ex-
pert for long and short sight.
The ships are always sent from the load
ing berth in dock to the company's moorings.
and at least twenty-four hours before the
time appointed for sailing, and on the day
before sailing each member Of the crew Is
given metal badge with number stamped
upon Il, showing the boat (which has CORE
spending NUMBER he belongs to. After the
men have received their badges they are
mustered, their names are called and then
they are put through the various drills an
pointed by the directors to be carried out
these consist Of boat drill, fire drill, pump
drill, bnlk-head door drill and sending
squads OF men, belonging to one or more
boats, from one part to any other part of the
ship. When the order Is given, "Out all
boats, the men sailors, firemen and stew
ARDS 60 TO their respective boats, |. g., those
with badges numbered to No. boat, and
so on, and at once cut off the lashings, grips
and covers, swing the boat out, square the
davits and stand by for the order Lower
away" all this time the boat keepers (al-
ways sailors are In the boat, and never leave
her till she is again swung in board and SCI
cured. When the order Lower away is
given, the rope ladder, with which each
boat Is supplied, is passed to the men on
deck and one end secured to the ships rail,
the other end going down with the boat; as
soon as the boat touches the water the order
Man all boats" Is given, the boats crew,
consisting Of four sailors two already in the
boat. two fremen, two stewards, and the Of
hcer or quarter master in charge then get in
to the boat, and she is sent TO pull round
vessel or buoy at some distance from the
ship; upon their return the oars are lain in
and the boats sent away under sail; when
they come back from their sailing cruise
they are hoisted in, put into their respective
checks, and secured for the voyage. 1t Is
very rare for q boat to exceed three minutes
from the time the order "0ut all boats is
given till she is well clear of the ships side,
The fire drill, pump drill and bulk-head door
drill are each in turn attended to, and an ex-
cuse IS never allowed for any member Of the
crew being absent while the drill is going ON.
The store-rooms, state-rooms, saloons, sound
ing machines, lead lines, rockets, and all life
saving appliances are thoroughly examined,
and II found perfect the ship Is considered
IN good order for the voyage. At a fixed
hour on each day during the voyage the
bulkhead doors are closed and opened to
keep them In good wearing order. All minor
regulations of the company receive the same
strict attention.
The officers and sailors are divided into
two watches and keep watch and watch from
the time of departure from one port till the
time OF arrival at the other. These watches
are-nrst watch, from 5 p. m. till midnight (;
middle watch, from midnight till a. m. /;
morning watch, from a. m. till 8 a. m. ;
forenoon watch, from 8 a. m. till noon after
noon watch, from noon till d. m: then
come the dog watches, the first from D. NJ
I'LL P. M, the second from 6 p. m, till s D. m.
by this arrangement seven instead if six
watches are made, the intention being to
change the turn Of the night watch every
twenty-four hours. By the way, it.was face
tiously remarked by Theodore Hook that the
term d0g-watch comes from these watches
being ''curtailed." The chief officer, third
and fifth officers, and half the sailors are in
one watch (the port watch, the second,
fourth and sixth officers and half the sailors
make up the starboard watch. When the
chief officer is on deck he is stationed on the
bridge, where the telegraphs to the engine
room, wheel-house, and other parts of the
vessel are fixed the third officer is on the
lookout bridge, forward, and the fifth Off
Ger is attending to the steering Of the
ship; two Of the sailors are stationed as far
forward as possible as lookout men, one
sailor is stationed at the crank hatch to pass
an order to the engine-room should anything
go wrong with the telegraph to the engine
room, and quartermaster Is stationed in the
aIter wheel heuse-to attend toi the steering
engine and also to look after the wheel
chains In thick weather the look-outs are
doubled, and in heavy weather additional
men are stationed in the after wheel house
to put the brakes on the circle Of the rudder
head should anything go wrong with the
case the hand steering gear should be attach
ed IN less than minute; the remaining part
OF the watch, under the boatswain, attend to
making or shortening sail, washing decks,
etc. When the starboard watch comes on
deck the. second officer relieves the chief Off
Ger, the fourth the third officer, and the sixth
the NTH officer, the lOOk-outs. etc, being re-
leved by members of the watch coming on
duty. Every care and attention Is paid by
the oifleers and l0Ok-outs, or IL would be i'm
possible to navigate ocean steamers as safely
as II Is done. This routine is carried on from
the beginning until the end of the passage,
and through sunshine and darkness, storm
and tempest, the only change made is remOy-
ing the lookout men from the fore end OF the
ship, where they might have a chance Of be-
ing washed away, to the lookout bridge, or
even to the main bridge, but this latter Is on
done in very bad weather.
The engineers with the exception of the
chief engineer, who does not keep a watch
and hremen and trimmers are divided into
three watches, each Of four hours duration
this gives eight hours ON duty and sixteen
hours OIL duty during the day In fine
weather the engineers and men have the
greater part OF the sixteen hours of duty to
themselves, but in thick and foggy weather
the engineers and some Of the best men who
have been on watch for four hours, have TO
stand by the starting gear and safety valve
gear Tor another four hours, suppOsing the
thick weather to continue for that time. A
moments thought will show that in such
event the watch on duty in the engine room
ana StokehOle must remain at their stations